BGN 15: Ecological features of Japanese two-rowed cultivars BARLEY GENETICS NEWSLETTTER, VOL. 15, II. RESEARCH NOTES
Yasuda & Hayashi, pp. 43-46

II.20. Ecological features of Japanese two-rowed cultivars.

S. Yasuda and J. Hayashi, Institute for Agricultural and Biological Sciences, Okayama University, Kurashiki (710), Japan.

The two-rowed barley that has been grown widely in Japan is used exclusively for brewing purposes. These cultivars consist of the selections or hybrid products of a small number of two-rowed varieties first introduced from Europe and U.S.A. about 100 years ago.

This study aimed to know how these cultivars have changed in the characters of ecological and agronomical importance from the two-rowed cultivars of different geographical origin. A total of 150 cultivars consisting of Japanese cvs, 47 European cvs, 34 Turkish cvs 11 and 14 Ethiopian cvs were randomly taken from the stocks preserved in the Barley Germplasm Center of Okayama University. Seeds were sown at mid-November in the field with two replications. The characters investigated are heading time, stem length, spike length, number of spikes per plant, number of triplets, spike density, fertility, 1000 kernel weight, harvest index, grain weight per plant and grade of spike exertion. Number of days to flag under 12-h and 24-h photoperiods were also investigated after cold pre-treatment for 40 days.

As shown in Table 1, Japanese cultivars were, in general, earlier in heading, shorter in spike and spike internodes and lesser in number of spikes per plant. European cultivars were characterized by late heading under natural and short day conditions in addition to higher sensitivity to short photoperiod. Turkish cultivars possessed such features as low grade of spike exertion and high sensitivity to short photoperiod.

Table 1. Means and coefficients of variability of 14 characters in two-rowed barley cultivars collected from different regions

The results of principal component analysis made by the use of correlation coefficients between the characters showed the two-rowed cultivars scattered on the plane defined by the first (z1) and second (z2) principal components (Fig. 1). Sixty two percent of the whole variation included in first, second and third principal components. The first component seems to represent the earlier heading and second component appears to be plant growth. The third component is the factors related to filling of seed.

Figure 1. Two-rowed cultivars from different regions scattered according to the scores given by the first (z1) and second (z2) component vectors.

It may be concluded from the ecological view point that Japenese brewing two-rowed barley differed markedly with European barley, and both Turkish and Ethiopian barley are rather intermediate between Japanese and European barley.
 

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